also and method of it with the occasion and vse THe first Psalme which hath no title in the Hebrew most of the learned Fathers ascribe to Dauid as Origen Ambrose Basil Augustine Cassiodore c. yea and S. Ierome though he elsewhere followeth the opinion of the Hebrew Doctors in his time in one of his Epistles attributes this Psalme to Dauid Some also there bee who suppose it to be composed by Esdras who is affirmed by Athanasius and Hylarie to haue gathered the Psalmes into one volume But since the Scriptures make no certaine mention thereof vrging no man to follow this or that opinion I leaue it as indifferent although I must confesse that I my selfe am more enclined to their side who impute this Psalme with all the rest to Dauid But doubtles whose-soeuer it were or by whomsoeuer the whole booke was thus ordered this was most properly made a Proeme to the rest for that it treats of Blessednesse which is the principall end of all Instructions The Person principally speaking in this Psalme is the Holy Ghost by the mouth of the Prophet who doth hereby first teach vs who is truely happy vers 1.2 Secondly by a Similitude we are made to vnderstand the excellent estate of him that is so blessed vers 3. And lastly wee are here informed that the wicked being nothing so dreame of a false vncertaine felicity and are both in respect of their present and future condition most miserable vers 4.5.6 In breefe this Psalme may bee diuided into two parts the first three verses set forth the blessednesse of the Church in Christ and the other declare the lamentable condition of all that seeke for happinesse without him Something I will say concerning the ground and occasion of this Psalme for I haue shown you before in my Preparation that there were certaine diuine subiects some of which the holy Prophet alwayes made the first Obiects of his contemplations and the meanes whereby he ascended vnto the cleere knowledge of the high Mysteries deliuered in euery Psalme Now although here be no Title to shew vs so manifestly what he made the foundation of his contemplation that we should peremptorily conclude it to be this or that particular yet by the matter of the Psalme we may I hope without iniury to the Holy Spirit giue our meditations leaue to ayme therat And to me it plainely appeareth to bee that Double-Law of God which was giuen in Paradise For though at the beginning God created man that he should know loue enioy him and bee made blessed in that fruition yet he would not that such blessednesse should be obtained without some condition And therfore hee gaue him an easie but as I sayd before a Double-Law partly affirmatiue partly negatiue the affirmatiue part was that hee should dresse the garden and eat freely of euery tree therein the negatiue was that he should not eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and euill And there was both a promise of reward for his obedience and a commination of punishment if hee transgressed but Adam who by obedience might haue beene eternally happy by disobedience was thrust out of Paradise into a world of miseries to wander for euer in discontentment and in the vnhappy shadowes of death Which God beholding with pity bestowed on him in place of originall righteousnesse which hee lost a meanes of Iustification and changing the accidents though not the essence of his first command gaue to him in his Word that generall Law of Faith by which hee and his posterity might bee directed out of the way of perdition and ariue againe at true felicity This Mystestery being the first in the holy book of God that most neerely concernes vs the Prophet as it seemeth contemplated and made it the obiect and ground-worke of this first Psalme For as God gaue to our first Parents in Paradise a negatiue and affirmatiue Law so in that vniuersall Law imposed since their fall some things are commanded and some forbidden to bee done and that Law in respect of the essence is one throughout all the ages of the Church Moreouer as Adam if hee had kept the Commandement of God in Paradise should haue there liued a happy life and peraduenture beene translated from thence without death into a more glorious blessednesse in Heauen so wee by keeping the Law which is since giuen vnto vs insteed of the Tree of life in this world shall obtaine the blessednesse of Grace in Gods Church for the present and the perfection of all happinesse euen the life of eternall glory hereafter Contrariwise as Adam by contemning the Law of God with the tree of life in eating the forbidden fruit lost thereby the Estate of blessednesse and incurred for the breach of a double Law the danger of a double death so those which transgresse the two-fold Law of Faith and Workes which he hath since giuen in his Word doe both depriue themselues of the fore-named felicity and are the second time and that irrecouerably in the way of eternall damnation The effect hereof is opened in this Psalme and therefore it may with good probability bee supposed that he tooke the Parable whereupon he compiled this Hymne from the Mystery of the Tree of Life planted in Paradise and from the Law and Charge which was there giuen vnto Adam and he sheweth that as the transgression of the Commandement is the way that perisheth so the fulfilling of the Law of the Lord is the onely meanes which is left vs to recouer againe the happinesse that we haue lost This Psalme wee may sing or meditate when wee are disposed to praise and set forth the blessed and vnspotted life of our Redeemer or else when wee are discouraged with the prosperity of wicked worldlings which seemes to bee the onely happy men we may hence both informe our selues of their end and comfort our soules with remembrance of the blessed estate of a good Christian. The metricall Translation of the first Psalme Here the Prophet hath exprest Who alone are truely blest All things prosper with the iust But the wicked perish must THe Man is a blest who walketh not b astray In their c lewd Counsels that vngodly are Who neither standeth in the sinners way Nor with the scornfull sitteth in their chaire But in the Law of the d eternall LORD e Sincerely placeth he his whole delight And in his Law f his euer-blessed Word Doth g exercise himselfe both day and night He shall be like a tree which close beside The h Riuers set his fruit doth timely giue His leafe shall neuer fade i but fresh abide k And whatsoe're he takes in hand shall thriue But with vngodly men it is not so For they are like the chaffe which l being fann'd By puffs of winde is driuen to and fro In Iudgement therfore shall not sinners stand Nor the vngodly n be admitted where The righteous shall o in one assemble p then For q
hath reference aswell to the words and workes as to the thoughts in which sence it is not vsed in the Scriptures only but the Poet also saith Meditabor arundine Musam And it was well expressed in the word Exercise in our olde English Translation By the Law is vnderstood not onely the morall Lawes for then Blessednesse might haue beene obtained by working according to the morall vertues as the heathen Philosophers taught Nor is here meant the Ceremoniall Law alone nor that and the morall together onely For then the wicked Iewes though they continued in their vnbeleefe might become partakers of this happinesse But the Law in this place as I told you in my Preparation to the Psalter it was sometime to be vnderstood signifies the Law of God as it hath at once respect to all the ages of the Church from Adam vntil the end of the world and therfore comprehends the Law of Grace also yea all the Doctrine of God contained in his Word And this Law is called the Law of the LORD or if you will haue it according to the Originall The Law of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or IHVH if we may expresse the Hebrew Tetragrammaton in our letters And these Characters some late Interpreters read Iehouah supposing the forme of that word to imply as much as He that is that was and that is to come For say they le is a signe of the time to come Ieueth Hee will bee Ho of the time present Hoveth hee that is Vah of the time past Havah hee was Which wee will not denie to bee a probable and ingenious conceite but indeede the word Iehouah it selfe is not confessed to be so much as heard of to be an Hebrew word among the Iewes neither doth it signifie any thing in that tongue Nor can we haue one Testimony that the Hebrew Tetragrammaton was euer anciently so pronounced And therefore vnlesse we had better authority then probabilities and vncertaine coniectures of new Gramarians I see no reason why we should venter to put this vnknowne name vpon God Which if it be the right yet not so sufficiently warranted to be truely reuealed vnto vs that we may vse it with the same confidence wherewith we pronounce the other names of God As you may see more at large in the thirteenth Chapter and third Section of my preparation to the Psalter But to teach vs then that this law in which it is here said the blessed man delighteth is not the law of man but of God know that the vnpronounceable Hebrew word here vsed and insteede of which the Iewes spoke Adonaj or Elohim the Septuagint and Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ancient latine expositors Dominus and the authorized english Translations for the most LORD is an essentiall and vncommunicable name of our great eternall and euerliuing God who is most truely called Hee that is that was and that is to come and therefore wheresoeuer you find this Tetragrammaton 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You may be assured that there is to bee vnderstood eyther one or all the Persons of the sacred Trinity For whereas the word Adonai and Elohim are sometime communicated to others that is neuer so And therfore because the word LORD by which wee according to the Apostles haue exprest it may be communicable to men You shall vnderstand that wheresoeuer in the last English translation you finde LORD thus in Capitall letters there is that glorious and most essentiall name of God to be vnderstood which neuer ought to be applied vnto any other But which I had almost outslipt you must note that the holy-Ghost vseth here the word Delight to shew vs further to shew vs further that the deuotions of a blessed man are not constrained or seruile but rather proceeding from a true and affectionate pleasure in the worship of God with the studie of his word It must be vnto him as it was to Dauid More to be desired then fine Gold and sweeter then honie or the honie-combe Yea the excellence of his affection is further and another way manifested in that hee is said to meditate thereon Day and Night For the Day and Night in holy Scripture hath a three-fold vnderstanding Temporall Morrall and Allegoricall Temporall is the day which we enioy by the presence of the Sunne the night thereof is that which is made by the absence of the same Morrally it is taken for life and death Prosperitie and aduersity or such like and this is also Metaphoricall Allegorically the old Law is called the Night and the Gospell tearmed the Day and therefore Zacharie in his song wherein he spake of Christ and the light reuealed vnto Mankinde in the new Testament saith that The day-spring from on high hath visited vs to giue light to them that sit in darkenesse But Saint Paul writing vnto the Romanes concerning the faith of Christ Iesus saith in playner tearmes That the Night was past and the Day was at hand Euen thus many waies are the Day and Night to be vnderstood in the booke of God But in this place they are to be considered according to all and euery of these The blessed man meditateth on the Law of the LORD day and night that is He pondereth all the misteries of Iesus Christ as they were promised figured and prophecied of in the old Testament which as the Night shadowed them ouer and then beleeueth and confesseth them as they were fulfilled in the new Testament which was the Day that made them apparant to the whole world Yea he is continually enclined vnto the study of Piety without intermission Morning and Euening at Noone-day and at Mid-night both in Prosperity and Aduersity Openly and Secretly For many can bee content perhaps to spare some little time in the Day for the meditation of Gods word but there are very few that will breake a sleepe and arise at night with Dauid to praise God many can be content whilest they gayne any outward benefit or preferrement by their profession to be hot and earnest in the study thereof but few dare abide the blacke and terrible night of persecution Nay a little aduersity or worldly inconuenience cooles all their zeale Hypocrites by Day that is openly in the eyes of the world will be very forward and seeme to be stout professors but in the Night that is secretly and by themselues where none but God is witnesse they can laugh at their owne dissembling and with those people of whom God speakes by the Prophet Malachi they say thus It is in vaine to serue God and what Profite is it that wee keepe his commandements Againe there be others that by Night with Nicodemus dare peraduenture come to God yet by Day are affraid or ashamed to be seene in a Religious mans company But neyther of these haue well vnderstood what is ment by Meditating Gods word Day and Night nor are they yet in the way of Blessednesse Out
are fed And in respect of whom the Sun is dim Oh! what a passion will torment thy soule When thou shalt misse that sweetnesse And imbrace Insteed therof deformity as foule As hell can put vpon her lothsome face What wilt thou doe alas when thou must beare All this great horror and sharp pangs withall For thus euen thus will the vngodly fare When that great Iudgement ouertake them shall And it shall adde vnto their torment to What e're they suffer say or thinke or do VERS 6. For the LORD knoweth the way of the Righteous but the way of the Vngodly shall perish BVt that no righteous Man deterr'd may be From labouring for his blessednesse through doubt That the Almighty doth nor mark nor see How many painfull steps he paceth out And likewise that no Sinner may vnwarned His owne vaine way pursue with false surmize That God doth ouer-passe as vndiscerned The course he takes or winke at villanies Know this you happy men that would attaine To perfect Blisse That howsoe're you seeme Obscur'd on earth and oft to spend in vaine Your labours and your liues without esteeme There 's not a drop of bloud a sigh a teare An inward smarting or an outward grone A sleight vnkindnesse or a scoffe you beare But the Almighty knowes them euery one If you but sweat a little in this path He sees it and in time reward it will Not one sad thought your heart in secret hath But God both knowes therof and mindes it still Though you close prisoners were in strictest thrall Neglected of the world and seene by none But such oppressours as would smother all Which for your praise or comfort might bee knowne Though you were mew'd where none might come to tell What you haue done or suffer'd in this way And being in some dungeon forc'd to dwell Had mourn'd to death shut from the sight of day Yea though your foes should labour to obscure Your good endeauours with a slandrous fame And brand you with vile actions so impure That all men thought you worthy death and shame Yet God whose bright and all-beholding eyes Viewes present past and euery future thing Sees vndeceiu'd and whatsoe're he spies To light will one day to your glory bring He knowes knowing doth approue your course And what he doth approue shall neuer faile Nor Man nor Deuill policie nor force Against his power or knowledge can preuaile Oh therfore droop not though a thousand stormes Or likelyhoods of ruine may appeare For when dispaire puts on her vgliest forme Then is your most assured safety neere Nor boast you Sinners as if you had found A readier course vnto the truest blisse Then righteous men because your way is crown'd With more vaine honour then their labour is Nor let your painted pleasures gull you so To make you dreame that God deceiu'd will bee Or that an vnsuspected course you go Because the world your danger cannot see For though a while you prosper and delude With shewes of happinesse the blinded eye Of fooles and the abused multitude That are in loue with your gay vanity Yet ruine shame and desolation shall Confound your way And vpon euery one That therein walketh will destruction fall Euen then when least perhaps you thinke theron Though in the world you long haue had the names Of honourable honest iust and wise Walkt in a course approu'd and left your fames To after ages in large Histories Though you are great and Orators can hire To cloke your foule proceedings with faire showes Or to defame the Righteous here conspire And make abhorr'd the path in which he goes Though at your deaths with formall pietie And workes of publike loue you often do Conceale your rotten hearts hypocrisie Deceiuing so your selues and others to And at your funerals haue preacht abrod A glorious rumor of a blessed end Those clouds can neuer blinde the sight of God But ruine shall your wicked course attend Though you the ancient Heathens prais'd moralities The Iewish strictnesse the hot Zealousnesse Of Schismaticks haue learn'd with Romes formalities To trim your way with shewes of happinesse And though the Passenger that walks it carries A lode of pardons mumbling as he goes Fiue thousand Creedes ten thousand Ave Maries And of his owne good merits addes to those Yet all will faile him yea there 's many a one By you for Saints canoniz'd whom your path Hath thither brought where now they lie grone Beneath the burthen of Gods heauy wrath For he approues no meanes of happinesse Or way of seruing him but that which he Hath taught himselfe And it is wickednesse Another course to seeke what e're it be This you haue done you sinners so for this Your way and you shall perish And while those Whose course you haue derided dwell in blisse You all contentment shall for euer lose That since you would not vnderstand aright The path that leads to safety whilst you might You should when you are past returning know It was the Way that you despised so THus haue I sung the sum of what the Muse Of our great Prophet in this Ode pursues The way to Blisse Which as my weaknesse can I striue to leuell so that euery man Yea little children may come walke along And make it short and easie with a song Here warne I all but here I cannot say Enough to perfect all men in that way For some lacke one thing some another misse To further on theirvoiage vnto blisse Some faith some works some loue some knowledge want In some repentance in some grace is scant The greatest part defectiue finde I shall Of most of these and many men of all Then some dispaire and some presume as far Some too secure and some too pensiue are Some pray not and some praise not God aright That each man therfore he well furnish might For this aduenture and with meanes diuine Assist him from his heauenly Magazine To fit their seuerall wants he offers you A hundred nine and forty in a row Of such Instructions as who e're shall please To weigh their vse and liue and walke by these My life for theirs at length they shall attaine That happinesse their soules desires to gaine And to assist their weake simplicities That cannot sute their owne necessities In that rich treasurye My humble Muse Shall be their Guide their Seruant and refuse No paines if Gods great Prouidence permit Till all these sacred Oracles she fit To their capacities So I shall be A help to them And they may further me By their good prayers in that blessed path Whose end contentment euerlasting hath THE PARAPHRASE WHERIN THE WORDS of the Psalme are wholy retained and distinguished from the rest by a change of LETTER BLessed is the man that being in the first estate of innocency doth not walke from it after the euill affections of corrupted nature in the lewd Counsels of the vngodlie By consenting vnto euill concupiscences Nor stand in
name be glorified now and for euer Amen To fill vp the vacant pages of this sheet here is added as necessary to stir the Reader vp to these studies a metricall Paraphrase vpon the first eight verses of the 12 Chapter of Ecclesiastes beginning thus Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth c. NOw Young-man thy Creator thinke vpon Before the prime of lusty Youth be gone Now e're at hand that euill day appeares With those vnwelcome and abhorred yeares When thou deiected shalt the world contemne And greeued say I haue no ioy in them Now whilst Sun Moone and Stars their light retaine And no black clouds doe threat a second raine Before the Keepers of the house doe shrinke Before with trembling knees the Strong-men sinke prye Before the Grinders less'ned quiet lye And they grow darke that through the windowes Before the Doores without fast closed bin Through their base sound that faintly grinde within Before the Bird to rise doth summon thee And Musiques Daughters quite abased bee Before the lofty thing doe thee dismay And shuddring feare surprize thee in the way Before the Almond put his flowers abrode The Grashopper become a heauy lode Desires decay and lothed Age thou meet Or troops of Mourners waiting in the street Oh doe not thou the time till then prolong But minde him whilst the siluer Cord is strong Now whilst the golden Ewre vncras'd is found And at the Fountaine-head the Pitcher sound Before the Wheele be at the Cysterne tore Or Dust grow earth as earth it was before And from the bodies quite dissolued frame The soule returne to God from whence it came Thus spake the Preacher And he told vs why For all sayd he is vainest vanity The same another way paraphrased according to the signification of the seuerall Metaphors NOw whilst warme bloud with fresh kindly heat Doth through each part with liuely vigor beat And all thy beauties in their spring-tide bee Thinke on thy God that so created thee Accept this fit aduantage of the time Giue him the First-lings of thy golden prime Before thy last vnwelcome dayes begin To bring those yeeres thou hast no pleasure in Now while thou seest prosperities bright Sun Enlightens thee the way thou hast to run And Gods pure Word affords a cheerfull light To guide thee safely through blacke errors night Doe not forget that thou a Maker hast Till all the morning of thy life be past Nor waste the time from stormes troubles cleare Till greefes on greefes like clouds on clouds appeare Those hands that youth a while doth powerfull make Vnsteddy through their feeblenes shall shake Those legs that strongly doe vphold thee now With aches pained shall beneath thee bow Thy few loose teeth will cease their food to grinde And thy dim eyes stand in their cazements blinde Thy iawes their nimble motion quite shall lose Thy lips sunke in their double wickers close Thy wonted sleepe thy temples shall forgoe And daily raise thee when the Cocke doth crow Thy listning eares their sense aside shall lay And euery rub disturb thee in the way The siluer haires thou on thy head shalt haue Wilt shew thee ready ripened for the graue Each trifling thing shall be a burthen to thee The vaine desires of youth shall all forgoe thee Thee to his house shall Age with panting breath Conduct there lodge thee in the bed of death And those who thither thy attendants were Shall mourning home returne and leaue thee there Oh thou that wouldst a needfull comfort finde In those blacke dayes now thy Creator minde Before thy nerues their sinewie vigor lacke And strength and marrow leaue thy weakned back While neither cares nor sorrowes craze thy braine Whilst thy sound liuer fills vp euery vaine Whilst thou art yet in health and feel'st thy head By no heart-breaking pang distempered Ere flesh dissolue to earth and spirit bee Return'd to Him that first did giue it thee For then this saying will most true appeere That all is vaine and nought but vainesse here Glory be to God Amen Correct these faults with thy pen. PAg. 8. lin 15. for seemes read seeme pag. 14. lin 7. for Catalicticall in some coppies read Cabalisticall pag. 119. lin the last for whith read with pag. 121. lin 9. for Righteousnesse in some coppies read Vnrighteousnesse pag. 124. lin 23. for thirst read thrift The Authours Preparation to the Psalter somtime mentioned in this Booke is to bee sold at the signe of the golden Vnicorne in Pater Noster Row by Iohn Harrison * In Epist. ad Paulin de omnibus sacris Scripturis The person speaking in the 1 Psalme the matters handled in it The occasion of this Psal. Vide Prepar to the Psalter cap. 5. Genes 2. The vse of this Psalme m The direction letter is heere left out in the verse and therfore refer this note to the word Sinners in the last verse of the fourth Stanza The way of Blessednesse is by most men mistaken In what things the Worldling placeth his happinesse 1 Cor. 15. Rom. 14.17 Why the Holy Ghost vsed this preface Matth. 5.3 1 Tim. 4.8 Deut. 28.3 1 Cor. 1 Pet. 3.11 Psal. 34.14 What manner of expression the Holy Ghost vseth The first Triade The vngodly who they are Isa. 57.20 Walking Psal. 119.1 Gen. 5.24 2. Chron. 22.3 Councell Gen. 6.5 Gen. 8.21 Arist. 3. Eth. 3. Iam. 1.4 Triade 2. Sinners who they are To stand what it meanes What the way is Psal. 86.11 Acts. 18.25 Ma. 7.13 Eccles. 7.22 Who they are that stand in the way of Sinners Gen 19.4 Ind. 19.22 Esay 5.11 Pro. 23.29 Gen. 13.13 Sam. 15.18 Math. 6.45 Luke 7.37 Iob. 9.16 The 3. Triad What it is to sit in the seate of the scornefull Scorners who they are Pet. 3.3 Mat. 23.14 The Chaire or seate of Scorners To fit what it meanes A briefe of what went before The Chaire of Pestilence The Doctrines Obseruations arising out of this verse Ob. 1. The policy of the Diuell to draw vs vnto the Counsels of the vngodly and so forth to destruction Few seeke the things of this world temperately as they ought Doct. The bold presumption of man Genes 39. Obser. 2. Obser. 3. Two sorts of men heee warned to repent Verse 2. Three things obseruable in the second verse To meditate what it means Psal. 35.28 Psal. 36.30 What is signified by the Law of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and the word Iehovah Reu. 11.17 The meaning of the word Delight Psal. 19.10 Day Night what it signifieth Gen. 1.16 Luke 1.78.79 Rom. 13.12 Mat. 3.14 Ob. 1. Psal. 55.17 Verse 3. Mar. 4.30 Mat. 16 19. Luke 13.19 Vide Epist. Henr. Steph. before Marlorets commentary vpon the Psalmes Fiue things obseruable in this illustration of a godly mans happinesse He is Planted Psal. 92. Math. 15.13 Secondly he is placed by the Riuers of water Ierem. 17.18 The Riuers of waters what they meane Thirdly he is fruitfull and that in season Acts. 10. The pronoun His. When fruit is giuen in season or in time Fruit what it signifieth Iob 15.8 Fourthly He is euer flourishing Plin. lib. 16. cap. 20. 5. Whateuer hee doth prospers Cenes 39. A Caueat Rom. 8.28 Bessednesse two-fold Luke 14.15 Psal. 144.15 Matth. 5. 1 Cor. 2.9 What makes perfect Blessednesse Ioh. 17.3 Cap. 3. True blessednesse consisteth not in temporall things Eccles. 1.17 Doct. 1. Doct. 2. What the Riuers of waters signifie Doct. 3. Doct. 4. Ver. 4. The dissimilitude that is betweene the wicked and the righteous Math. 3.10 The Worldlings season in which hee brings fruite Math. 6.2 Why the wicked are resembled to Chaffe The vnhappynes of worldly men in this life Verse 5. To stand what it signifies Matth. 25. What Iudgement the Holy Ghost meaneth in this Psalm Matth. 25.41 Obser. Matth. 13.14 A Caucat Two sorts of sinnes Ver. 6. Iob 9.21 Prou. 12.10 Matth. 7.23 2 Tim. 2.19 Rom. 8.29 Obser. 1. Obser. 2. Obser. 2. Reuel 22. Verse 1. Verse 2. Verse 3. Verse 4. Verse 5. Verse 6.